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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Skinny Philly


I am determined to get back into blogging. Life has just been a little crazy lately. All good things- just a lot of them. Aside from the HUGE task of helping my mom plan her upcoming wedding, along with the changes in her house that are being made, we also have some changes happening in our household.

These are very minor compared to hers, but they include furniture changes (which is pretty big for us), and two new TVs. This isn't as simple as it sounds, unfortunately... We started by ordering a new TV. We only bit the bullet on this until our old, trusty big screen went out on us. We had always said that we would not buy a newer TV until our old one bit the dust. A few days ago, it started going out every few minutes, so we couldn't take it any longer. Although it's been exciting to step into the year 2013 and actually own a HD set, it entails a lot of other things. We also have to get a new satellite dish, a new DVR box ("The Hoppaaa," as they call it on the commercial), and a "Joey" hookup for our master bedroom TV (which is also new, thanks to my grandmother).

And, since our old TV was humongous, we then had to have a new piece of furniture to put the new, sleeker TV on. That was a task in itself, that took up most of our day on Saturday, spanning about 5 different store stops. But, we decided on a beautiful piece, and my sweetie hauled it in the house & assembled it all himself. :)

So, anyway, life lately is hectic, but good, to sum it all up. :)

Now, you are going to love me for sharing this recipe! I have made it several different times now, and it is now one of our favorite go-tos for a quick weeknight meal. I found the recipe here.
Thank you, Skinny Ms.!!!

It is basically a quick, healthy version of a Philly cheese chicken sandwich. You could make it even healthier by subbing olive oil for the canola oil, which I did.

What you will need:

- 2 one-pound chicken breast filets (I used an already-cooked rotisserie from the store... even easier!)
- One tbsp. canola oil
- One tsp. dried oregano (optional)
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- Salt (optional)
- One bell pepper, sliced (recipe calls for red &/or green)
- One onion, sliced
- Provolone cheese (I think the second time I cooked this, I only had Swiss on hand, and it was good too...not as good as the Provolone, but still tasty.)
- Crusty sandwich bread, hoagie rolls, etc.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. If you need to cook the chicken- mine was already cooked, so I cooked my veggies first, then added the chicken for a minute to flavor it- season it with salt, pepper & oregano, then brown it in the oil. Add peppers & onion, and cook until tender.

Put rolls on cookie sheet, open-faced, place chicken/pepper/onion mixture on rolls, place cheese on top & bake until cheese is melted.

So simple!

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I paired our sandwiches with some Checkers fries, found in the frozen section. These are the closest to Central Park (our favorite) we've had! Yum!


I've also fixed the sandwiches with my own homemade fries, which are hard to beat. 


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

My Momma's Getting Married!!!



Yep, it is a very exciting time for our family! My mom got engaged this past weekend!!

The date hasn't been set yet, which is not necessarily a bad thing, since we have A LOT to do before the big day!

It's strange, because I was looking at my last post where I mentioned all the life changes going on lately, and then this happens! This is definitely one of those good changes, though.

I just wanted to post on this really quick, so I would have it recorded on the blog. I will hopefully be posting updates as we go along with the planning & other changes involved. I have a feeling lots of moving, lots of new/different things, and lots of emotions will be in the mix. :)

Bottom line- I am so very happy for my mom & her future husband, Lynnwood.

And now, let the fun begin!!...

Monday, April 22, 2013

Happy (Sunday After) Easter- 2013


This Easter was a little different than ones past. My sweetie & I were both sick the entire weekend, and did not attend church on Easter Sunday. I can't remember a time when I had ever missed an Easter Sunday at church, but we were both at home with aches, a stuffy nose & Zach had/has a cough he can't shake- bless his heart. It made me think about how Jesus could have had countless excuses, all of them valid, for not doing what He did for us. I'm glad He wasn't weak like most of us humans seem to be. He made the ultimate sacrifice for us all-  with no excuses & no hesitation.

So, we saved our Easter clothes- my "frock" & his suit- and we took our annual Easter pics, as we always have since we got married, but this time, on the Sunday after. I'm such a nerd about this, because I always like to post years past, just to see how we've changed from year to year. I really don't realize how we change until I look at these pics next to each other. We did look a lot younger in '09, after almost one year of marriage, than we do now, after almost 5 years of marriage.

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

I just love those comparison pics!

Anyway, my sweetie & I had a great weekend this past weekend. We spent the day Saturday in Chattanooga, seeing a movie, shopping, eating & visiting with his mom. I had told him I would go see Jurassic Park with him for part of his birthday. It was re-released for its 20th anniversary. It was his favorite childhood movie- mine is The Wizard of Oz, and we saw Oz, The Great & Powerful a few weekends ago. :) WOW is all I can say about both of those movies. We loved them!

This was also Zach's first time to see a move in IMAX 3D, and he'll never be the same, I don't think. The experience was totally worth the extra money. I took a quick pic of us in our humungous IMAX glasses...


They were so big, they made an indention on my forehead that lasted well into the afternoon. Nice. :)

A lot of other things are going on in life lately. I was talking to Zach the other night about all the life changes that seem to be happening in our world lately- some good, some bad. My (Great) Aunt JoAnn passed away two weekends ago. She had had a long battle with effects from a stroke, and had also had cancer. My Mamaw Ruth recently had a problem with a clot in her leg, and is now in a rehabilitation facility for 21 days. It all makes me realize that grandparents do grow older the older I get, and I don't like that. I should just be thankful that they're still here with me.

This past weekend, my sweetie worked on the Kiwanis Pancake Day Saturday morning. He was also on the local radio station to promote it on Friday morning. I stayed out in the car and recorded it. He was wonderful, and well-spoken as always! I'm so proud of him and all that he does! :)

I spent some of the weekend cleaning & he worked both inside & out getting things done. I wanted to bring a little Spring inside the house, so I picked some Dogwood blooms and put them in vases around the house...


This weekend was a VERY big one for our family... I want to post on that separately, and hopefully that will be soon!! :)

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Weekend Update(s)


I love that I haven't posted in a while. Lately, I just haven't been in the mood to post, and haven't had much time to do so anyway. I wanted to post a quick update, mainly for myself, then I will hopefully post on Easter next.

A lot has happened since my last post...

My brother Jonathan had a birthday and turned 24. That. Is. Unbelievable. And I don't like it, because it makes me feel old.

My momma also had a birthday, and we celebrated it right...

...I gorged out on sushi & we all stuffed ourselves with Japanese food at Stix...


We took the first family pic we've taken in a long while...


This time, including Mom's new boyfriend.
What can I say, she's in love. :)

My sweetie also celebrated his birthday! He is now in the last year of his twenties at 29- can't believe that either!!


His birthday was actually the official "First Day of Spring," yet we have only had just a handful of Spring-like days. I'm so ready for Spring weather to kick in full-time.

I took this pic of him & Cosmo on one of those pretty afternoons...


Buddies for life. :)

A couple of weekends ago, we went to see Elton John!!


I got some fairly good pics with my iPhone. I also got a lot of really good video!


We could not believe Mom's boyfriend- I looked over one time before the concert & noticed he had his "Elton glasses" on. :)



Tickling those ivories... he is so insanely talented!!




I hope to be posting more soon. I am working on one big project right now that I want to share soon!

My sweetie & I are planning a weekend to go see Jurassic Park in 3D. We want to make a day of it and shop & eat out. This is part of his birthday present- I wouldn't be too keen on watching it on just an ordinary occassion. You know how it goes- give & take! :)